Lenovo to slash staff

Monday, 20 February 2023

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Good morning!

When we started this newsletter around this time last year, we were very clear about how we intended to disrupt the ecosystem that was becoming crowded with substacks and news brand newsletters alike; offer our subscribers the top headlines they needed to start their day.

For the past year, we have done that successfully. But not without your feedback which has helped us grow and improve. This year we changed the name of the newsletter to Technext Daily Roundup and rolled out a brand-new interface. We've also thrown the introduction open to other members of the team, inviting them to share with you what they are working on and their take on the headlines shaping the ecosystem. All through this, you've stayed with us.

This is why one year later, we are very excited to announce that we now have 80,000 subscribers. This is because our newsletter was never just about promoting the stories that we tell on our website. It is about curating the most important headlines shaping the ecosystem.

We strongly believe that this is where we should focus. To cement this landmark, we are going to be changing things a bit.

It's still going to be major headlines, but rather than top stories, we are going to be classifying the newsletter into four sub-sections focusing on Ecosystem (where we will report the major stories in the African tech ecosystem), Policy (to cover the policies shaping the tech ecosystem), Social Tech (where we will look at the intersection between society and tech) and Global News (to report the stories across the world).

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Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

Co-Creation Hub has launched a $15 million EdTech accelerator program,
Meta has launched a new paid verification feature for Instagram and Twitter,
Lenovo said it will make some staff cuts
Banks continued collecting old notes after CBN warned that they should stop

Ecosystem

Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) has launched "The Edtech Fellowship Program," a $15 million accelerator program to back and support 72 startups across Nigeria and Kenya over the next three years, TechCrunch reports.

Bosun Tijani, the co-founder and CEO said; “If we invest intentionally in a very structured edtech inclusive ecosystem of government, teachers, investors, foundations, and even in some cases, the students and their parents, we believe that we can begin to gain a better understanding of how to use technology to improve learning in schools.” Tijana also said that the innovation hub will be launching in another country by May. (Twitter)

"I'm glad Edtech in Africa is getting the attention it needs. Bring it on, guys; we have a $200B+ market to address," Adewale Yusuf, AltSchool Africa CEO said of the news. (Twitter)

Other Ecosystem Stories:

Terraa's CEO, Youssef Benkirane said the company will spend the next 12 months understanding the market before any expansion after its $1.5 million raise. "It’s a very challenging problem we’re trying to solve so we need to be sure that we figure it out properly. And once we are confident that we have a solution, we will start replicating in major markets in Africa," he tells TechCabal.

Policy

The CBN has ordered banks to stop accepting the old 1000 and 500 naira notes; "For the avoidance of doubt, and in line with Mr President’s broadcast of February 16, 2023, the CBN has been directed to only reissue and re-circulate the old N200 banknotes and this is expected to circulate as legal tender for 60 days up to April 10, 2023,” Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi said.

But on Saturday some banks were still collecting the old notes.

“We are only collecting deposits of the old notes from those who have filled the form and generated the code. If you don’t have a code, you cannot enter because you will not be attended to," a bank manager told the Punch.

Other Policy Stories:

Gov. Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos said that residents will continue to pay half the fare price if they take BRT this week. The governor, facing reelection this weekend called the move, referencing the cash scarcity, "necessary in view of the ongoing situation in the country," Nairametrics reports.

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Social Tech

EggCorn Digital's hit podcast I Said What I Said will be back from holiday on Wednesday this week, the hosts Jola Ayeye and FK Abudu announced with a promotional video across their social media platforms. (Instagram)
Madeaux Africa has launched a new podcast, Politea, in partnership with BudgIt. Arise News' Laila Johnson-Salami is the host. (Instagram) Read my interview with Madeaux Africa founder, Wande Thomas here.

Global News

Meta is rolling out a new paid verification subscription service for Instagram and Facebook users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday. For $11.99 a month on the web and $14.99 a month on iOS, users on Instagram and Facebook will be able to submit their government ID and get a blue verification badge. “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post, CNBC reports.
Microsoft said it will start limiting conversations with the new chatbot in its Bing search engine to five questions per session and 50 questions per day, after a series of hallucinations. “Very long chat sessions can confuse the underlying chat model,” Microsoft said on Friday. Microsoft said its data showed that about 1 per cent of conversations with the chatbot had more than 50 messages, the New York Times reports.
Lenovo is planning job cuts after it reported its first profit decline in nearly three years, the residue of weakening demand for PCs and other smart devices. “The smart devices market is in its worst period,” said Lenovo’s chief executive Yang Yuanqing on an earnings call, the Financial Times reports.